{"id":217637,"date":"2026-01-03T02:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/217637\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T02:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:58:11","slug":"jewish-groups-warned-ban-on-maccabi-tel-aviv-fans-attending-match-could-be-seen-as-antisemitic-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/217637\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish groups warned ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending match could be seen as \u2018antisemitic\u2019 | Antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jewish communities warned West Midlands police that a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match against Aston Villa<\/a> \u201ccould be perceived as antisemitic\u201d, documents show.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the Israeli team were banned from attending the Europa League fixture at Villa Park in Birmingham on 6 November, causing outrage, with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemning it as \u201cwrong\u201d and suggesting it amounted to antisemitism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Guardian obtained redacted minutes from a meeting of the council-led safety advisory group on 16 October \u2013 the day the ban was announced \u2013 via a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n

In comments attributed to West Midlands police, the document states: \u201cJewish community groups have expressed concern that banning away fans could be perceived as antisemitic, rather than a public safety decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis perception could undermine trust and increase reputational risk for authorities and the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the document, the police also said it was aware of concerns among the Aston Villa<\/a> fanbase surrounding hate crime incidents \u201cparticularly isolated incidents of antisemitic abuse\u201d.<\/p>\n

The revelations come after West Midlands assistant chief constable, Mike O\u2019Hara, apologised to members of Birmingham\u2019s Jewish communities after he told MPs that some had expressed support for the ban at a committee hearing in early December.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the force later clarified: \u201cIt was never the intention of the officer to imply that there were members of the Jewish community who had explicitly expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The names of more than 25 people in attendance at the 16 October meeting have been redacted, except for those of two councillors, Waseem Zaffar and Mumtaz Hussain. Five representatives of West Midlands police were also present.<\/p>\n

According to the document, the force told the group it had \u201csignificant intelligence indicating potential for disorder\u201d involving Maccabi Tel Aviv<\/a> fans \u201cbased on recent fixtures\u201d, citing incidents in Italy, Norway and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther sports, eg baseball in Holland, have also seen disorder when Israeli teams were involved,\u201d police said according to the minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese incidents suggest that Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s presence could attract protest and disorder, even outside the football context.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police also said that there was a \u201chigh likelihood of protest activity linked to the fixture whether aimed at MTA [Maccabi Tel Aviv] supporters or MTA themselves. This sits at the highest threat,\u201d according to the document.<\/p>\n

However, the force also acknowledged the risk level of the match remained at \u201cmedium\u201d without away fans due to community tensions and the potential for spontaneous protest.<\/p>\n

The decision to introduce the ban, which was not objected to by any members of the group, was made on the rationale that there was a \u201chigh risk associated with the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans\u201d and that \u201ccommunity tensions could be exacerbated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The head of West Midlands police has been recalled to parliament next Tuesday by the Home Affairs Committee, which is scrutinising the decision to ban away fans.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the hearing, further details have been provided<\/a> by chief constable Craig Guildford from West Midlands police about the intelligence that led to the ban \u2013 including notes of an email summarising a meeting between the head of WMP\u2019s football unit and Dutch police.<\/p>\n

The email notes \u201cviolent confrontations\u201d that took place before a match between Ajax and Maccabi Aviv in Amsterdam in 2024, including alleged incidents of Muslim taxi drivers being pulled from vehicles and the singing of anti-Muslim and anti-Gaza chants.<\/p>\n

On the day of the fixture, there was a \u201dnational mobilisation of Muslim youths\u201d travelling to Amsterdam \u201cto seek retribution\u201d \u2013 the notes state \u2013 with reported hit-and-run incidents on Maccabi fans.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, had previously described a number of the claims made by West Midlands police as \u201cinaccurate\u201d and said the force had \u201cconflated different things\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Times reported that Dutch police were \u201csurprised\u201d by claims <\/a>attributed to them by the WMP force.<\/p>\n

The leader of Birmingham city council, John Cotton, and other council bosses are due to be quizzed by MPs next week.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the chair of the Home Affairs Committee in December, Birmingham city council\u2019s executive director of city operations said there would be an independent review to \u201cascertain what can be improved from a governance perspective\u201d.<\/p>\n

West Midlands police were approached but declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jewish communities warned West Midlands police that a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-217637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}